


Can't Help Falling

by elhardo



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: (disguised as merely wanting friendship and general cluelessness), Bits of fluff, College AU, F/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Smut, Sprinklings of Angst, case of i wrote this for myself but you can read it if you want :), university au but Annabeth is still cannon – I promise it’ll make more sense just bear with
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2019-08-07 10:42:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16406927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elhardo/pseuds/elhardo
Summary: you are not atlas. you cannot shoulder the world alone ~ vandana shivaAnnabeth Chase has died. But when she wakes up in her dream university dorm room, it doesn't seem that way.and now: dying and living to the fullest





	1. Chapter 1

**________**  

_Set in chapters 51/52 of Blood of Olympus, where everyone is fighting at Camp Half-Blood…_

Annabeth had been in plenty of battles in her time, maybe even too many.  
As a child of Athena, she didn’t have any stand out super powers other demi-gods had at their disposal during battle – like Jason being able to call lightning, Percy being able to whip up earthquakes and tsunamis, or be able to make something _from_ anything, like Leo – but she did have the power of the goddess of wisdom and tactics on her side and she felt that divinity coursing through her, radiating from her.  
They were cutting through the barbarians, as Reyna had so lovingly deemed them, subconsciously cutting their way back to each other. Percy looked over at her, a whirlwind of energy and even at this distance she could feel the power radiating from him. They had been through so much together, enough just in this crazy year alone, and they were almost through it, she could see the end of the tunnel of constantly being in danger and fearing for her and her friends’ lives.

With every enemy she struck down, she was getting closer to a time where life settled and being normal wasn’t such a far-off fantasy.

Percy looked over at her and with their eye contact Annabeth could feel herself re-energised-

A sharp pain embedded itself through the tiny chink in her armour in her side. And then another on her opposite side. Annabeth swung her blade sharply, barely aware that her managed to strike down the barbarians that had gotten her. She fell onto her knees, eyes frantically scanning the battlefield before her vision got too blotchy, until she saw him. And then he saw her. His face fell and she could see the way her name was being ripped from his mouth in a scream as she whispered his name – “ _Percy.”_

**________**

 

Annabeth awoke gasping for breath, bolting up right. She pressed a hand to her back, where she’d _just_ felt a sword piercing through her. But her hand didn’t come away covered in blood and her shirt hadn’t been torn at all – in fact she didn’t feel any pain, except for maybe an oncoming migraine. She felt completely fine.

But that didn’t add up – she had just been in battle, was pretty sure she had just _died_ in battle, yet where she was sat didn’t look anything like the Underworld. Unless Hades had made it over to look like a student’s bedroom.  
Annabeth pulled back the duvet, planting her feet on solid ground, wiggling her toes on the carpet. It certainly didn’t _feel_ like she was dead.  
Pushing herself to stand up, Annabeth caught sight of herself in the mirror just across the room. She didn’t _look_ dead, either. Her blonde hair fell around her in its usual messy curls, devoid of bloody grime and sweat. She turned a little, looking over her body – still lean, muscled and tanned, with no signs of any wounds or scars she had collected from years of fending off monsters. She still had her camp necklace on, complete with her dad’s college rung around it. Her face was clean, skin looking healthy; Annabeth looked into the mirror version of herself’s eyes and felt something was wrong. Or maybe not wrong but – _different_.

She continued to stare at herself, trying to put her finger on it when a sharp knock came at her door. Annabeth startled a little before mentally scolding herself for being so jumpy.  
“Annabeth?” A muffled voice called from just beyond the closed door. She definitely knew that voice, but couldn’t place to whom it belonged to. “Are you up? Can I come in?”  
Annabeth hesitated for a second. She still didn’t know what was going on - this could be some sort of trap. “Uhh, just a second,” she called back. Her eyes scanned the room, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. Nothing about her gleamed with the power of celestial bronze – she ended up grabbing a plastic hairbrush (she remembered how Rachel Elizabeth Dare had used it as a projectile on the Titan lord quite effectively). Gripping the plastic hairbrush, she raised it slightly, ready to throw. “You can come in,”  
She watched the door handle twist and as the door opened she threw the hairbrush, hitting the person behind the door directly in the face. “Ow! What the hell, Annabeth?” The person rubbed at their cheek.

“ _Malcolm?_ ” She now recognised her fellow child of Athena, glaring at her. “W-what are you doing here?”  
He was still glaring at her, “I heard you yelling from downstairs – you left your front door open, by the way, hardly wise – so I came to see if you were okay. Plus we’re going out, remember?”  
Annabeth just continued to stare at him. “This has got to be some sort of set up by the gods,” She mumbled, more to herself than Malcolm.  
“Huh? Annabeth, are you alright? Maybe you shouldn’t take naps during the day, you’re majorly disorientating yourself,” His glare turned to more a look of concern.  
She looked at him, her eyes searching for some telltale sign this was a dream, that this was a trick. But she couldn’t find anything; she’d just have to play along until she could find out what was going on.  
“I… Just a nightmare, I think,” She managed, shaking her head, sighing a little. “What did you say about going out?”  
“Hm,” Malcolm narrowed his eyes at her, as if he could tell she was lying. “It’s Jason’s annual back to school party tonight – you said we’d go together, remember?”

Annabeth didn’t, but she nodded like she did. “Oh. Right. Yeah, Jason’s party,” _What the hell was he going on about –_ what the hell was this annual party she was meant to know about?

“Well. I’ll let you get changed and meet you downstairs,” Malcolm was still looking at her with a mixture of worry and skepticism.

“Malcolm?”  
He turned around in the doorway, “Yeah?”  
“This might sound weird but…” She raised a hand to her temple, rubbing at where her migraine was growing, “Where am I?”

“Is that meant to be some sort of philosophical question?”  
She shook her head.  
Malcolm frowned slightly, cocking his head a little at her before answering, “You’re in your new student house, in your first term as a second year student at university,”  
What was she doing at university? Last thing she remembered she was at Camp Half-Blood fighting Gaia, not about to go into her second year as a university student.  
Oh gods – _Gaia_. Had she risen? Was what Annabeth was living out now the repercussions of the Earth Mother’s rising? It didn’t seem like it. But nevertheless, she had to find the others. She had to find Percy.  
“Must’ve been some nightmare for you to forget where you physically are. Are you sure you’re going to be okay going out tonight?”  
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine – I am fine. I just-“ She sighed, running a hand through her hair, “I’ll get dressed and meet you downstairs,”  
Malcolm looked a little hesitant to leave her on her own but he shrugged and went, closing the door behind him.  
Annabeth wanted to scream; she hated not knowing what was going on. What was she doing at university? She’d always wanted to study architecture, but it had been too dangerous, and she’d been caught up in quests, busy with the gods’ agenda rather than her own.  
If she was alive (seemingly) now, did that mean Gaia had been defeated? Was this the gods taking pity on her and giving her a second chance or something? Annabeth pondered over this as she looked for something to wear to this party. Her room looked like she had just moved into new accommodation, with boxes stacked against the wall still waiting to be unpacked. But it was definitely lived in, one or two posters of diagrams of buildings she recognised from her room at her dad’s house were already plastered over the walls, a couple of textbooks were stacked on her desk, brand new. She picked one up and eyed it – Architecture 305. A new timetable was also already tacked up on the wall, including all of the courses she had been planning on applying to before… well, before she had died. Malcolm’s call of, “You ready?” drew her from inspecting the room further.

Downstairs, Malcolm had already made her a pot of coffee. “You ready to head off?” She downed half the pot before nodding and they indeed headed off.

 

“Malcolm, Annabeth – you guys made it!” Jason Grace grinned at them. No – not Jason. Or at least not the Jason she knew – this boy’s eyes were electric blue, but not crackling with power, as she had known them to be.

“Hey Jason, thanks for inviting us,” Malcolm and the party’s host hugged briefly. “No problem, man! Drinks are just down the hall and bathroom, too. And if you’re gonna vomit, try and make it outside, yeah?” They laughed but Annabeth couldn’t get herself to convincingly smile along. She was still confused – why was this Jason here, throwing a party?  
Malcolm meandered down the hall but Jason just looked at her, “Are you alright?”  
She was starting to get a little sick of being asked if she was alright. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Where did you say the drinks are?”  
He laughed and guided her to where all the drinks were before leaving to go and greet the newest arrivals. She took up some lemonade, wondering if Jason was here, were the others? Were they even still alive? She also found herself wondering about the other people she’d left behind, Thalia, her dad.But thinking about that made her migraine from earlier resurface, full-throttle.

She had to relax, at least try and engage with the atmosphere, enjoy the new experience.

 

 

Annabeth had never been to college party before and frankly she was a little disappointed. Maybe that was because all she had to compare it with were Olympian parties, which wasn’t much of a fair comparison on any level. She still danced amongst the other partygoers, needed a distraction from herself. Annabeth had managed to strike up a conversation with some girl she didn’t recognise called Tanya and was learning quite a bit about herself in this life – she was apparently the well-decorated captain of the university track team. (Annabeth had always enjoyed competing in track at highschool and she was quite proud that in this life she had kept it up.)  
Tanya was also catching her up on call the campus gossip, of which there was already an abundance despite term not even starting yet; apparently Jason was rumoured to be dating the (legendary) captain of the swimming team (Annabeth wondered idly if Piper, or even Reyna, were in this life and what they would think of this tidbit), when someone behind Annabeth interrupted the conversation, “You know it’s not a rumour. The captain of the swim team _is_ actually dating Jason Grace,” He raised his voice, “Oi Grace, you’re my lovebug aren’t you?”  
Annabeth was frozen. She knew that voice better than any other.

Annabeth whipped around, eyes wide, coming face to face with her boyfriend. “ _Percy!_ ” Her body reacted before her mind could catch up as she flung her arms around him and hugging him tightly to her. She was so relieved to see him – he still smelled faintly of the sea, exactly as she remembered him. But the last time she had seen him had been in battle- Annabeth pulled away, not even registering the surprise in his body at her hug or her bracing her hands on his neck, giving him an incredulous look, “ _What are you_ doing _here_?!”  
He just gave her a confused look in return. Then he smiled a little, but that couldn’t save from her from what he said next, “Uh, have we met?”  
Annabeth let go of him sharply, like she just touched something ice cold, and stepped back from him. “You – you don’t know me,” She whispered. “Is this some kind of joke?”  
His smile faltered a little, “I’m sorry?”  
Annabeth continued to just stare at him – how could Percy not know her? But he continued to look at her with bemused confusion. She just shook her head at him, sprinting to the other side of the house.

✧

Annabeth was back at the refreshments table, using it to steady herself, her breathing shallow. Percy didn’t know her. _Percy didn’t know her. Percy_ didn’t know _her_.

She just stared at the floor, frozen, trying to wrap her mind around what was going on.

The last thing she had seen was Percy looking over at her, and then his scream. She could still hear that scream, could still feel his name on her lips as the life had drained from her.  
Tears seemed beyond her and her brain chose this time to remember when Percy and herself had first been ripped apart by Hera, but when they had been reunited he had remembered her, had known her and known what they meant to each other. 

But this time… this Percy…

Annabeth snatched up a bottle of vodka, not even bothering to get a cup or anything, and took a long swig, focusing on the burning trail it left down her throat. She swiped at her mouth, letting out a breath as she put the bottle down, at least a quarter emptier.  
If this was the sort of second chance the gods were giving her, she wasn’t sure she wanted it. She took a deep breath, thinking _don’t be so ridiculous_ she couldn’t waste this chance she was being given. But it was hard, because Percy had always been there – had made her grow in ways she couldn’t have if Percy hadn’t been a part of her life. He had always been there for her and now he was gone. No – _she_ was gone.

“Hey, are you alright? Heh, someone’s been thirsty,”  
Annabeth rounded on the question, rounded on the person who had asked it. She almost wanted to scream _how dare you_ – how dare he have the same black hair, effortlessly tousled as if he’d just stepped off the beach in the same way, how dare he have the same smile most teachers instantly labeled of that of a troublemaker, and how dare he have the same damn dimples? How dare he have those same sea green eyes but not look at her in the same way her Percy did.  
“You kind of ran off back there. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,”  
She tried not to crumple at his apology, “No, it’s my fault,” she sighed, “I guess I mistook you for someone else,”

She couldn’t blame this Percy. No, only the gods. She remembered Aphrodite saying she liked Percy so she would make his love life difficult – maybe she had gotten bored and had decided to mess with Annabeth instead.  
“Some other Percy in your life?” His joking tone brought her back to the conversation, to this life.  
_Not any more_ , she thought but just nodded a little – she couldn’t bring herself to confirm that out loud. She couldn’t even shake her head.  
He seemed to notice her change in demeanour, “Can I get you a drink?”  
Annabeth brandished her bottle of vodka at him, “I’m good, thanks,”  
He smirked at her _~~that fucking smirk, too sexy for his own good~~_ , “Hardcore, huh? I didn’t catch your name by the way,”

“Annabeth,”

“Annabeth as in Annabeth Chase, captain of the track team?”  
“Apparently so,” She tipped her bottle in a mock toast to herself.

He grinned at her, “Sweet. I’m captain of the swim team, you know,”  
Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him, “Doesn’t that mean you’re dating Jason?”  
Percy laughed a little and Annabeth tried not go weak at the knees at the sound. “We’re just friends,” He coughed a little, “I’m not dating anyone, actually,”  
“Good of you to let me know about that,”  
Percy nodded, “It is good of me. Might come up in one of your pop quizzes,”  
Annabeth decided to pour the vodka into a cup instead of chugging the rest of it from the bottle, “Yes, I can now pass all my mid-terms with the knowledge that Percy Jackson is single,”  
“And what about you?” He was looking at her through his lashes, as her Percy used to do when he was feeling a little shy ~~or like when he had told her he loved her for the first time~~.

“You mean am _I_ dating Jason?”

“Ha ha,” He rolled his eyes a little, but he was smiling. “Isn’t there anything between you and that Malcolm guy you came with?”  
“Oh, no. He’s basically my brother,”

Percy had a hand leaning on the wall by Annabeth’s head, smiling a little at her. He had done this to her a thousand times in her past life and it had always made her blush, just like it was now (though the alcohol she had drank wasn’t exactly helping, either). She knew he was flirting with her and she knew encouraging him wouldn’t exactly help her get over her Percy, but being close to him was comforting in this world where she didn’t know what was going on. That knowledge also didn’t stop her from running a hand lightly over his arm as they kept talking. She let her hand rest on his bicep as he leaned a little closer, but it wasn’t enough when Percy’s scream was still ringing in the back of her head. Maybe she could replace that scream with something else.

“Annabeth?” His voice was low and soft, coaxing her out of her thoughts.

“Hm?” She hadn’t realised that she hadn’t said anything for a while.  
“You went a little quiet there. Are you-“  
“Please don’t ask me if I’m alright. I’m tougher than I look you know,” She sighed, trying for a smile, leaning her face up to his. Percy hummed a little, “I would bet you could probably judo flip me if you wanted,” _You’d be betting right._ His eyes slipped down her body before he seemed to remember himself and his gaze returned to her face. “Then what were you going to ask?” Annabeth’s own voice was low now too and she licked at her lips a little, Percy’s eyes following the movement.  
“You know, you’re not making this easy for me,” He huffed a little before smiling. Annabeth laughed – this Percy was echoing what her Percy had said just before she had kissed him properly for the first time. And that’s just what she did now; Annabeth closed whatever space was left between them, pressing her lips to his.  
They still tasted lightly of salt, a little rough against her own. Exactly how she remembered them.

She pulled away slightly, smiling at the blush on his cheeks, “Any more questions?”  
“Can we do that again?” He blurted out. Then he shook his head, looking almost mortified, “I mean only if that’s okay with you, if you want to-“  
She had forgotten how cute Percy was when he was flustered; she cut him off with another kiss, opening her mouth a little this time. Percy complied immediately, his mouth opening up to her, pressing himself lightly against her. Annabeth snaked her arms around his neck as Percy’s arms folded around her waist, their mouths open carefully against each other’s. But Annabeth didn’t want careful in that moment – she wanted to be touched, to touch him in return, to kiss the frustration away and loose her confusion to desire. To be distracted from everything for just one night with -a copy of- the boy she loved.  
She licked up into his mouth, drawing him in tighter to herself and Percy happily let her, his own tongue doing its own exploring. After a minute of this, Annabeth pulled away slightly, nipping at his ear. She remembered how worked up Percy used to get every time she did it and this Percy was no exception to that as he let out an almost growl. ~~It was certainly an improvement to the ringing screaming.~~  
“My house is isn’t far from here,” He was breathing deeply.  
“Is it socially acceptable to leave the party this early?” Annabeth couldn’t help but to tease.  
“I think allowances can be made,” He kissed the corner of her mouth and Annabeth found herself chasing his lips, pushing her hands up under his shirt to feel the warmth of his skin at his lower back. Percy shivered a little and pulled away looking imploringly at her, his eyes searching hers.  
“How far did you say your place is?”

 

 

 

Percy almost dropped his keys twice trying to open his front door without breaking their kiss, but soon enough they finally stumbled through the door and out of their shoes, up the stairs and to his room.

He’d pinned her against his door, kissing her so fully and deeply Annabeth could be tricked into thinking she couldn’t breathe. But she didn’t want to be kissed like that, _intimately_. She wanted heat, for him to kiss her so hard it hurt, that she forgot any other kind of hurt she had been feeling.

Annabeth pressed her hands to his pelvis, rubbing at where his ligaments formed that prominent v-line briefly before whirling them around, pushing Percy back and pinning him up against the wall, all in one smooth movement. He looked a little stunned at their change in positions, but Annabeth caught the wicked glint flashing in his eyes that she knew meant he enjoyed her being more assertive as she moved back in to claim his lips.  
Percy moaned a little against her mouth, moving one of his hands from her waist to the door handle behind him, fighting with it until he door opened and they tumbled in. But Percy wasn’t letting go of her that easily – he kept her firmly pressed against him as they whirled into his room. Annabeth tugged at the hem of his shirt and he immediately complied, breaking the kiss momentarily to pull it off before moving to pull Annabeth back in for a kiss, but she had ideas of her own.

She pulled back fully, running her hands appreciatively over Percy’s torso – _gods his abs were so firm he could be real_. Percy sighed at her touch, trailing his hands over her back. She sighed herself, leaning her head back and Percy latched onto the exposed skin straight away, pressing kisses in the hollows of her neck and nipping gently. Annabeth continued to run her hands over his muscles before pushing him down sharply onto the bed. He inhaled sharply, gazing up at her with Annabeth already crawling into his lap, lifting up the hems of her silk tank top and pulling it off, shaking her head of curls slightly before carelessly dropping the shirt to the floor. Having propped himself up on his elbows, Percy watched her with parted lips and hunger in his eyes.

With her now fully in his lap, his hips framed between her knees, Percy immediately moved in to run his hands over her waist. His touches were tender, but she didn’t want tender, she didn’t want closeness – she just wanted him to touch her, make her feel good and forget what she had lost. Annabeth knew that was wrong, that that wasn’t what sex was about, but her moral compass had gone severely askew between the alcohol, Percy’s touches and his subsequent moan when she grinded her hips on his.

She leaned down to kiss up his sternum, while his hands were still rubbing gentle circles at her waist and coaxing her closer, hers trailed down his chest and coming to fumble a little at his belt. She could feel Percy’s eyes on her, watching as she finally got his belt undone and slipping down his jeans. After a second, he raised his hips to shimmy fully out of them, kicking them away in a less than smooth movement.  
Any further movement Annabeth was about to make was cut short there as Percy somehow managed to flip them so that he was now ontop of her, forearms braced by her head. “Is this okay?” His voice was alluringly husky, she almost forgot to nod that it was indeed okay, more than okay. He smiled at her affirmation, trailing his hand up her side and making a shiver run through her. Percy slipped a hand under her waist, coaxing her hips up. She complied, eager to be flesh to flesh with Percy, as he undid her own jeans, easing them down, his eyes following the progress as more and more of her was revealed. Annabeth watched him take her in, pushing away thoughts of how he had had the same look on his face when they had slept together for the first time.

Annabeth moved her hands from looped loosely around Percy’s neck to trail down his back, sliding them under the waistband of his underwear. He leaned closer, sighing next to her ear as she gripped his ass. The sigh turned into a low moan as she trailed her hand round the front of him, ghosting her hand over his dick, proceeding to ease the cotton off of him as he buried his face in her neck, pressing open mouthed kisses all over. As his underwear came completely off, Percy had trailed his open-mouthed kisses down her collarbone, growing more and more heated as they tracked over her chest. One forearm was still braced by her head, the other ghosting between her legs, making her shiver and pull him closer. His fingers hooked under the waistband of her panties, and Annabeth was more than wiling for him to tear them off of her before he climbed off of her, muttering “One minute,” He leaped off the bed and began rummaging around in his drawers.

(Annabeth thought that was a very rude place to stop.)  
She sat up on her knees as he found what he was looking for and flew back onto the bed, flashing the little foil packet at her, matching her stance on his bed. He was looking at her almost apprehensively, as if now the condom was out, things were real (not like his dick was already out) and he wanted to make sure Annabeth was sure. Unable to handle that stare right now, Annabeth gripped the back of his neck, pulling him back in for a kiss, easing the little packet from his hands and managing to rip it open with one hand.

Percy gasped into her mouth as she rolled the condom onto him, touching him for the first time. The poor boy seemed too distracted by her touch to be able to unhook her bra properly; Annabeth smiled against his mouth, guiding his hands until it came loose and he threw it unceremoniously aside. He then snaked an arm fully around her back, easing her down to lie back fully on the bed, finishing what he started by hooking a finger under her panties but this time finishing the job and tossing them away, too.  
Percy looked at her, fully in the eyes, making definitely sure this was what she wanted. There was something vulnerable about his look. Annabeth did want this, she wanted Percy, she wanted the familiarity of him, the reassurance of him even if it wasn’t really _him_. Even if he wasn’t really hers.

Matching the intensity of his stare, answering his silent question, Annabeth gripped the back of his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. It quickly turned heated, tongues rolling over each other.  
Percy’s hand found its way back between her legs, massaging there a little and getting her as riled up as he was with her hand over his cock. She kept her strokes up and down him steady as he shuddered a little, sucking and nipping kisses all over her chest. He lined his hips up with her, pressing herself into her as she took her hand away, instead gripping his back as they both moaned. Any other thought was pushed out of her mind, consumed with the feeling of Percy, the sounds they were both making. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t her Percy, because he looked like him, made her feel like how _he_ made her feel, with the same amount of care. He looked at her with the same sincerity her Percy did. She would be stupid to try and deny the fact that she felt the same connection she had had with her Percy, but she didn’t want that with him when he wasn’t hers, not really.  
His eyes seemed to actually glow with satisfaction as he pulled out, pressing back into her. She gripped his ass, running her nails up his thighs, digging them into his back, knowing she would leave marks. Not to claim him, but to claim this moment – she needed to know that this was all real, that she was here. Who she was here with.

With every touch he moaned, with every movement he sighed her name, his voice low and almost hoarse. Annabeth herself could only let out breathy moans, not allowing herself to sigh his name, too. He kept looking in her eyes, probably for any signs of discomfort but she couldn’t take that much intensity. She had known he liked having eye contact when they slept together, and she had liked looking at him, too. But not now. Annabeth just knotted a hand in his hair, gently pressing his forehead into her shoulder. She didn’t want intimacy right now – just a distraction. And he was simultaneously the best distraction and the fucking worst. Even worse was that she knew it was wrong to use him like this. But then she felt herself tipping over the edge, Annabeth wrapped her legs around his waist and arching her back as Percy came with her, the both of them coming apart with a final groan.

Percy slumped ontop of her, breathing heavily as she rubbed his back lazily, and carding the fingers of her other hand through his hair, knowing how he loved the post-coital touch. He sighed, smiling into her neck and pressing a kiss there. They lay like that, Percy curled into Annabeth and her basking in the after-glow and the warm weight of Percy. But then she cleared her throat and pushed Percy away a little; he looked up at her, a little confused at her sudden want for distance but she just nodded down at where he was still in her.

“Oh!” Percy looked a little embarrassed as he finally climbed off of her, getting out of the bed to tie off and bin the condom. Whilst he was up, Annabeth stretched a little, feeling the fatigue seeping in – she knew she should get up, get dressed and leave, sleep in her own bed. What she shouldn’t do is stay in _his_ bed, making room for him and letting him curl back towards her. He left a little space between them. She knew that Percy liked to cuddle up, but appreciated that he put her first, letting her take the initiative if she wanted to cuddle close, too.

Annabeth blinked tiredly at him through the hair that had fallen into her face, wondering if she was imaging the soft look on his face. He shuffled slightly, bringing a hand up to her face and moving the hair away.  
She wanted more than anything to lean into his touch, to close what space there was between them. Because when he touched her like that and looked at her like that, it was so easy to believe that he was _her_ Percy, that they were both still alive and together.

But instead she closed her eyes and turned away from him, pillowing her head under her arms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> letting go and holding on

Annabeth slowly blinked her eyes open and awake to the sound of rain pattering against the window, which was odd because Camp’s boarder didn’t let rain in. Her eyes adjusted to the dim bedroom as she sat up, the walls plastered with surf and skate posters and pictures of friends and family, from which she was absent.  
Because this was Percy’s room but it wasn’t _Percy’s_ room; the night before came back to her, accompanied by the beginnings of a killer headache/ hangover.  
She buried her face in her hands, falling back on the bed. Her rebound from Percy Jackson was _Percy Jackson_. What the fuck was wrong with her.

She was also still in his bed, alone, the lingering feeling of a warmth curled around her from where they must have cuddled close in their sleep. Annabeth stiffened – this guy wasn’t her boyfriend, she had no business cuddling him. She had no business jumping into bed with him either. Annabeth ripped the covers away ~~fuck they even smelled like him,~~ grabbed her clothes and tiptoed down the stairs in the morning’s half-light.

 

Annabeth was on the last step when she froze. Percy was stood with his back to her at the stove. But she recognised this kitchen – it was the room where Malcolm had made her coffee before they had gone out yesterday.  
Percy turned a little and Annabeth dashed back up the stairs with light feet, not ready to face him just yet. She looked at Percy’s bedroom door, her eyes sliding just down the hall to another closed door. She had a sneaking suspicion she knew what was behind that door and yet she still hoped and prayed that she was wrong. She pushed the door open a little, closing her eyes before looking past the door, faced with the room she had woken up in the day before. _Oh dear._  
Annabeth walked slowly back down the small hall and staircase, not even registering Percy vigorously swinging his hips and nodding his head, singing rather loudly along to Shania Twain’s _Man! I Feel Like a Woman_. She paused just by the staircase, arm still on railing, staring incredulously.  
“ _…,Men’s shirts, short skirts, oh, oh, oh! I wanna be free-yeah, to feel the way I feel, man! I feel like a woman!”_ Percy turned, pan in hand, still singing when he noticed Annabeth staring at him. He just blinked at her as Shania continued to serenade them staring at each other. As she started singing the chorus again, Percy put the pan down and turned the radio off, before looking back at her.  
After another minute of silence and then they both spoke at the same time, Percy saying, “I made pancakes,” whilst Annabeth went for, “What are you doing here?”  
She looked over his shoulder and saw that he had indeed made pancakes – _blue_ pancakes. Annabeth almost let out a laugh because _of course_ they were blue.  
“I, er, I live here,” His answer to her own exclamation. He smiled sheepishly at her. Annabeth could only continue to stare at him, his answer just confirming her theories. “ _I_ live here,” she whispered.  
Percy looked completely taken aback, his eyes widening as he registered what that meant. “Oh. O- _oh_ ,” He paused, “I was wondering when I was going to meet my new housemate,” He laughed a little but cleared his throat as the look on Annabeth’s face made it clear she wasn’t going to laugh, too.  
He turned back to the stove, turning it off, unloading the pancakes onto an awaiting plate as Annabeth just stood in the(ir) kitchen, her mind racing. “Well. That’s er. Well. I have to get to swim practice, but these are for you, if you want them,” Annabeth only noticed that he was dressed a light tracksuit, the university crest emblazoned on his jacket. “So, I’ll see you later, I guess,”  
He smiled sheepishly at her again, but she just stared at the floor, running a hand through her hair. “Uh, yeah. See you later,”  
He passed almost unnecessarily close by her as he made his way to the door, but she refused to look at him as he left. She felt horrible for having used him to distract herself, crushing anything she might have had with this Percy by being hung up on the past.

Her stomach rumbled and she remembered the pancakes Percy had made for her. She grabbed the plate, sitting down at the table, wondering what the hell she had gotten herself into.

 

✧

 

This wasn’t exactly the start Annabeth had envisioned for the start of her university life but running off her anger and confusion was something familiar to her.  
After having sat in the kitchen for however long, her head spinning, Annabeth had decided to live up to her title as university track team captain and head down to the track.  
It was weird, running and training not for survival purposes but because running was something she enjoyed. It was going to be weird period not having to constantly look over her shoulder in case of monsters.  
Though when she did finally stop, rest and check over her shoulder in the moment she would have rather seen a monster. _Of course_ the university’s swimming pool was next to the track and the swimmers were just coming out of practice. A familiar tall, dark haired boy was looking her way and she saw him smile a little and wave at her. His hand was still raised in a wave and she pretended not see his face fall as she turned away.

She felt a little bad giving the guy a cold shoulder, but she didn’t want to get caught up in him, to constantly be reminded of what she had lost. If she was going to give this second chance the gods had given her a real go, she had to focus on what was going on now and what she was going to do about the future now it seemed a more concrete concept to her.

Annabeth still knew herself to be a child of Athena – she had to strategise for her future, think ahead. She had always imagined herself with Percy, maybe a kid or two. But she couldn’t let herself think that way now. Maybe best to keep her sights set on the near future because any long-term future always wandered back to Percy. The future wasn’t theirs anymore, she had to remind herself. And neither was the past, for that matter. She had been so much with the boy whose name and face Percy shared, had grown so much with him but now? Reduced to university housemates that had slept together and now had to live with that awkwardness.

Closing her eyes, Annabeth looked up at the now dark sky – it was probably Hera’s idea to put this fun little twist on her second chance at life. No one was about, but she wouldn’t have cared anyway – she needed to speak this aloud, to speak it into existence. “Hey mum, I’m assuming you guys managed to defeat Gaia because I’m here now, talking to you. I pray Percy, Reyna, Piper, Nico and the others made it out safely. Mum – I pray that I don’t hold myself back, from anything.” Annabeth took a deep breath, the next part being said in her heart. _Perce, my seaweedbrain. I need to let you go. You’re not here anymore, and I have to let you go. Would it be okay if you let me try?_

A light breeze picked up, tickling at the tears in her eyes and Annabeth swore it carried a faint ocean scent. “Goodbye Percy.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> settling in and moving on

Annabeth liked to think she was settling into college life well. It was weird, not having to check over her shoulder for monsters, or whatever; she was having to concentrate what energy she would use for battle reflexes into getting herself to study (getting through her college workload was proving to be a very different kind of battle), and also to watching out for her housemate.  
It was hard having to live alongside the physical embodiment of all that she was trying to let go of and at times she felt ridiculous timing her moves so precisely that she had as little time as possible with Percy. She’d convinced herself it was worth the sacrifice of an actual solid breakfast not eaten on the go so that she didn’t have to see him and feel her heart want to shatter.  
She was also spending as much of her time as she could in the student library, forcing herself through her readings as well as familiarising herself with her course.

“Annabeth!” Grover’s calling of her name was followed by a consequent _shhh!_ by the head librarian (whom Annabeth was thinking resembled more and more a -harpie). Grover hunched a little as the librarian flashed him a glare, he shrank back a little as she passed on before whisper-shouting, “Come sit with us!”

‘Us’ proved to be the usuals, Jason, Piper, Travis and Connor, Reyna and Percy, of course. She was a little surprised to see that Rachel Elizabeth Dare was here and that Percy was sat next to her, laughing away together over something as she took a seat diagonally across from them. She felt that familiar stab of what she refused to recognise as jealousy at the two of them so at ease with each other – it made her wonder if they were _closer_ in this world. But that was none of her business, _Percy_ was none of her business now, even though he had stopped laughing and she could now feel his eyes on her.

“So, Annabeth,” Rachel’s intense green eyes were on her. “Will the track team be taking part in Capture the Flag next month?”  
“Uh, capture the flag?”  
“Yeah, you know – the big inter-sport competition to win social and sporting dominance across the university,”  
“And the after party is always sick!” Travis piped up.  
“Do you think you’ll seek partnership with another team in order to win?” Reyna was sat on the other side of Percy. Annabeth noted that Percy’s eyes were fixed on the reading in front of him, so fixed in fact that his eyes weren’t even moving across the lines, not really reading; Annabeth looked away from him, to Reyna. “I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it,”  
“Well _I_ think you and Percy would work well together,” Rachel nudged Percy, who was still resolutely ‘reading’. Annabeth didn’t really know what to say to that, but Connor spoke up for her. “Nah, Annie, you should totally team up with us,”  
Reyna rolled her eyes, “Connor, sleight of hand isn’t a sport.”  
“When it’s done well it is!”  
_Shh!_ The sharp hiss of the librarian reappeared, eliciting a shiver from Grover, “I swear spit just landed on me,”  
“Come on guys, we should go,” Jason got up, as did Piper and the others.  
“I’m going to stay and try and get some work done,” Percy ran a hand through his hair. Annabeth, who had barely taken out her own study notes, said she might as well do the same. “Bye you two,” Annabeth watched Rachel leave with the others, leaving herself alone with her new housemate whom she’d slept with, and who had also been her boyfriend in her previous life (not confusing at all).  
Annabeth silently read through her notes, rewriting them with extra information from the textbook. She seemed to be successfully not looking at Percy and actually getting some work done when he let at a noise of anguish. Annabeth glanced over at him where the poor boy smacked the book he was reading away, proceeding to his ‘ow’.  
Annabeth could see how frustrated he was. She couldn’t just leave him. “You okay?”  
He looked at her, almost like he was surprised that she had acknowledged him (which panged a little in her heart), and sighed. “Yeah, I’m just being stupid,”  
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him. “Stupid?”  
Percy just shook his head, pushing his notes away and sitting back in his chair with a sigh. Annabeth regarded him, leaning over to him. “Just because you have dyslexia, Percy, doesn’t mean you’re stupid,”  
He blinked at her, his brow furrowing. “How did you know?”  
Annabeth was taken aback – this Percy must not have mentioned it to her. To be honest, she hadn’t given him much of a chance to tell her anything. “Well, I have dyslexia too,”  
Percy looked surprised at this revelation. “I could help you if you want?” He looked even more surprised. “Uh yeah, I’d actually really appreciate that,”

Annabeth moved so that she was sitting fully opposite him and went through his notes. As they went through and compared their style of notes, Annabeth felt Percy leaning in closer as they talked and it wasn’t totally unwelcome. Neither was Percy’s preposition of walking back to theirs together once they were done.

They walked back through the college campus quietly; as they were doing so, Annabeth saw a several different groups of students move sharpish from where they had previously looked pretty settled, just as the top of the hour struck. “Do you know what’s up with the fountain?”  
“Oh, it’s some campus legend that the people who are sat at the fountain when the clock strikes they’ll end up getting married,”  
She looked back at the fountain now devoid of people, save for a loved-up couple, “Oh, cute,”

“Yeah, guess it is,” Percy was also looking at the couple when Annabeth felt his eyes flick to her before resting on the pavement in front of them. They continued on walking in quiet.

Annabeth thought she had been doing a good job of settling into her new life, putting herself first and the past behind her. But just having sat with Percy then, had reminded her of how much she had missed Percy. Not just the kisses, the touches, but simply talking to him – just being friends. She missed being his friend because they had been friends first, so why couldn’t they be friends now?  
As they were nearing the house Annabeth broke the quiet between them. “I’m sorry I haven’t been fair to you Percy,” She saw his eyebrows crease a little. “Ever since the night we, ah, first met, I’ve been a bit cold to you – haven’t really given you a chance,” She looked up at those green eyes of his and saw not only the boy she had loved in a different life, so much history, but more importantly a boy who she could have new adventures with, if only she gave him a chance.

“What I’m saying is,” Something flashed across Percy’s face that almost made her regret holding out her hand with, “Friends?”

He tilted his head a bit, looking at her and for a moment Annabeth thought he was going to reject her. But then with a nod he shook her hand, “Friends.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shopping and blushing

When Annabeth came downstairs the next morning, it wasn’t in the usual rush to get out of the door so that she wouldn’t have to see Percy. This time, she enjoyed taking her time making her cereal whilst dancing lightly to the classic rock station playing on the radio.

She was taking the first bite of her cereal when Percy came in just as the instrumental kicked in in Pink Floyd’s _Money_. She watched him continue to rock his way around the kitchen, getting his breakfast together with her eyebrows raised but a smile threatening to break through as he sat down with a sigh as the song finished with this bowl in front of him. “I didn’t know you listened to classic rock,”  
“A friend of mine always used to listen to this station during breakfast and I guess I just picked it up,” She shrugged, hoping also to shrug off the memories of breakfasts at her Percy’s where he and Sally would cook whilst singing along to the station.  
Where Annabeth had previously been grateful before of her and Percy’s schedules not lining up particularly often, she now found herself wishing she and Percy had more time to hang out together over the coming days. Since that first breakfast they’d had together, the rest of the breakfasts together were rushed with them both having to rush off somewhere and what Annebeth thought was a mutual feeling of awkwardness. They would sometimes see each other in passing around campus, but for the most part they were on opposite ends with their lectures and study groups at conflicting times.

Before, Annabeth had always craved a ‘normal’ life, one free of monsters and interfering gods with agendas and the like, but now, as she was sat staring out of the window in her architecture 305 lecture she found herself trying not to go insane. She had once been a renowned warrior, a leader of armies, the retriever of the _Athena Parthenos_ – the architect for the gods of Olympus for goodness’s sake. And now…

A movement from the classroom door’s window drew her out of her thoughts. Percy was waving at her through the window. She smiled, giving him a small wave back. He nodded his head at her lecturer and started over imitating him, making Annabeth snigger. She gave him disapproving look before also making a silly face at him- “Is everything okay, Miss Chase?” Her lecturer caught her mid stupid face, prompting the class to also turn and look at her. Annabeth cleared her throat, relaxing her face, muttering that all was good. Her teacher gave her an odd look before turning back to the board and catching Percy still with his bottom teeth jutted out, still in imitation of the lecturer now staring at him. Annabeth saw Percy’s face morph into that trademark troublemaker smile, his eyes flitting to hers before he dashed off. Her lecturer shot Annabeth a frown as she sniggered again, but she quickly corrected to her face to what she hoped was an apologetic student ready to continue her learning. But the smile crept back to her face and stayed there for the rest of the lecture.

 

✧

Annabeth threw down her bag with an exasperated sigh. “Just come from Winemann’s lecture. You know I’m pretty sure he still hates you for when he caught you making faces imitating him,”

Percy snorted, taking a sip of his drink, “The old architecture professor with a shoddy comb-over? I’m pretty sure I’ve caught him giving me dirty looks around campus. Do you think he got to Professor Tauperman and that’s why she’s been on my ass more than usual? You should see how much work she’s been setting,”

Annabeth groaned, “Don’t remind me – I’ve really got to get on my research and proposal,”

“Want to just sit down and bang it out together?” Annabeth felt the tips of her ears go red at that; it wasn’t like she hadn’t _enjoyed_ ‘banging’ Percy, as he had so amazingly put it, just that- “I-I just meant that we could do our work together – motivate each other to get it all done,” Percy’s cheeks had flushed the same colour as what Annabeth knew the tops of her ears to be.

Annabeth swallowed, nodding, “Uh, yeah that sounds like a good idea,” They had finally moved past the awkwardness of their first encounter, and Annabeth had been sure she’d put it behind her too but there she was, her mind jumping past rational and what Percy had obviously meant by studying to recounting how she had enjoyed spending time with her housemate, and now friend, like that.

They laid out their things and set to work at opposite ends of the kitchen table. They worked in relative quiet, save for the tapping of her laptop or the scratching of Percy’s pen and the turning of a page. But it wasn’t a heavy silence that she felt needed to be filled – it was comfortable, felt almost natural.  
The sun had been on its way down by the time Annabeth had gotten in, but it had been down for a while by the time the silence was broken by the embarrassingly loud grumble of Annabeth’s stomach. Percy looked up at her from her notes with a smile.  
“And that was my stomach demonstrating a whale’s mating call for you there,” Annabeth groaned as Percy laughed softly.

“Maybe we should take a snack break, come on,” Percy nudged Annabeth as he went over to check the fridge. He sighed, “Empty,”  
“Of course it is,” Annabeth groaned as her stomached choroused in too. Percy looked back over at her, “Fancy a trip to the shop?”  
“Percy it’s basically midnight,” But her sentence was punctuated by her stomach growling. “Let’s do it,”

 

  

“Ah sick – a trolley!” Percy ran at the shopping cart, holding himself up on the handle so that his feet were off of the ground and he all but flew across the car park. He circled back around to her, coming to a halt and bowing before the trolley to her, “Your carriage awaits m’lady,”  
As Annabeth hopped up into the trolley, Percy had given her his hand to help her into it and she saw him mirror the way she stiffened. Annabeth quickly withdrew her hand. Percy proceeded to push and spin her around the car park as she laughed and shrieked, Percy laughing with her.  
They came to a halt, the both of them breathing heavily, laughter still with them. But then Annabeth’s stomach grumbled again, her clutching her tummy. “Okay, we should really get this shopping done,” They both laughed again as Annabeth wobbled out of the trolley.  
At Camp, food was freshly prepared and delicious – she wasn’t the most culinary talented. She and Percy rolled the aisles, picking out the essentials – bread, milk and whatever – and what Percy had also deemed ‘essentials’, cookies, cherry coke and nachos.

They didn’t feel like heading home just yet to be greeted by all the work they had left behind and it wasn’t even one in the morning yet, which Percy had categorised as the night still being young, to which Annabeth pointed out it would be more accurate for the morning to be young. They sat down on the edge of the pavement, sipping their slushies. “Man, I used to always drink these way too fast and get brainfreeze – my mum would actually have to stop me,” Annabeth swallowed her sip of slushie, “I remember my step brothers would always see who could finish their slushie first and get brain freeze,” She went back to sipping her slush ice, but could feel Percy’s eyes on her in a smirk. “I challenge you, Annabeth Chase to a slush race,”  
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him for a second before licking the straw of her slushie into her mouth, Percy following the action with his eyes before mirroring it. “Ready? Go!” Percy started messily slurping at his slushie; “Hey – that was barely a count down!” But she slurped hers down too, her competitiveness coming out. She thought she could feel Percy watching her, but she concentrated on the task at hand. She could still feel Percy looking at her, and looked over at him – something was in his eyes, but then – “Agh! Brain freeze!” Percy clutched his head and Annabeth laughed at him before it hit her too. They sat at the curb, clutching their foreheads and laughing together. Annabeth was acutely aware of how their shoulders were brushing lightly as they sat together laughing. They sighed, breathless and Annabeth lay back against the pavement. The stars could be made out, despite the harsh light from the shop. “You know the constellations were said to be dedicated to fallen heroes,”

Percy lay down next to her, “Yeah, I heard that. Like that Orion’s belt was the lover of Artemis, right?”  
“Just before he died, she imortalised him in the sky,” Percy turned to face her. “You know a lot about Greek history,”  
“It’s not just history, people lived it,”  
“Yeah, it’s crazy that that was people’s lives – imagine, battling, all that stuff with the gods…”  
“Yeah, pretty crazy,”

They continued to just lie there, in the stingy light of the shop when a grubby little man walked past. He huffed at them and Annabeth swore she could see cartoon stink lines coming off of him. As he glared at them, making direct eye contact, as he walked past, grunting some comment about teenagers, Annabeth thought he looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place why. “Hey, do you recognise that man?”  
Percy was rigid, his eyes fixed on the man. “He didn’t even recognise me,” He turned to her. “He didn’t even _acknowledge_ me,”  
They both looked out at where the man wash shoddily pulling away from the car park; Percy stood up, fists clenched as the man drove away. “After all he did – after all he put us, put _her_ through and he doesn’t even-“ Percy trailed off and Annabeth could see how quickly the anger had risen in him. She rose next to him, shopping in hand, her other itching to reach out for Percy’s.  
Percy never usually got this angry this quickly, and seeing him this way was intimidating. She knew better than to try and ask him what had gotten him in such a way, he would come to her, if he wanted.  
As Annabeth had risen close to him, Percy rounded on her, his eyes alight with anger and though she knew it wasn’t directed at her he was still an intimidating force. “That man,” He pointed at the now faint tail lights of his car, walking forward, “terrorised my mother and I,”

“Gabe,” Annabeth whispered.

She could see the words _how did you know_ forming on his lips but he just ran his hands through his hair. “She was only with him because of me – because I was a ‘problem kid’ in school and he had some pull in the system. So she stayed with him – even though he treated her like his personal punching bag and I _know_ he hit her,” Annabeth could see Percy struggling not to say anymore, to share too much, but it was like seeing Gabe again had sprung a leak in Percy and it was all trickling out of him now.  
As they walked home he explained how Gabe had exercised absolute power over him and his mum, but how his mum had still found small ways to fight back, to not fully succumb to Smelly Gabe. Percy brushed over how Gabe had beaten him down too, but Annabeth could tell that it had still happened; even though this Percy was mortal, he had still known monsters in his life.

Once they were home Percy was still clearly agitated. Annabeth left him to go and get ready for bed, and for Percy to do the same, but she could _feel_ how he was still agitated, how he was caught up in his head and self-blame. She knocked gently on his door, and saw that she was right as Percy had his head in his hands, knee bouncing vigorously. Biting her lip in hopes she wasn’t over-stepping any boundaries, she perched on the bed next to him. “Your mum’s name is Sally, right?” Percy looked up from his hands at her and nodded. “Tell me about her,”  
Percy just looked at her and Annabeth was scared for a moment she should just get up and go but he lay back and started to talk. He told her about how he and Sally would go to the beach and stay in this stingy little cabin, but it was the best. He told her about how Sally was in school again, working on her writing and how she’d met a nice guy – Paul and how happy she was.  
Annabeth enjoyed listening to him talk about his mother – she could feel the pride he had in her radiating off oh him as he talk about how Sally was working on her writing now. “She’s even met a nice guy now, Paul, Paul Blofis. The first time I met him, I called him Mr Blowfish and I thought he was gonna go off at me and my mum was so embarrassed but he just laughed it off. He’s a nice guy, Paul – very grounded; it’s what she needs,” He sighed a little and turned to where Annabeth had curled up on his mattress next to him. “What about your parents?”  
She blinked at him for a second, unsure what was the right answer here. “Um, well, my mum and dad were never married – she’s off doing her own thing but my dad married my step-mum when I was **x;** he’s really into world war two engines,” she smiled a little at the thought of her dad and his obsession with the Sopworth Camel. “My step-mum and I never really got along – I even ran away a couple of times when I was really young,”  
“Oh, I’m sorry,”  
“Oh no don’t be – she’s come to accept me more now and I think we’re good,” It was odd talking about the family she wasn’t sure existed in this world. They moved onto other things – anecdotes about their families and Percy acted suitably interested when she talked about her dad’s infatuation with the Sopworth Camel.

Their talk started to die down as Annabeth’s eyes grew heavy, and she could see Percy’s eyes struggling to stay open, too. They were still lying face to face with an appropriate amount of space between them as they drifted off, apparently both totally forgetting that Annabeth had her own bed she should probably be getting back to.

 

 

Annabeth thought it would be a lot more awkward than it was when she woke up in Percy’s bed for the second time. But she saw that they had remained apart, even though their hands had stretched a little out to each other; she had drawn her hand back when Percy had opened his eyes, blinking at her like he couldn’t believe she was lying next to him. She cleared her throat a little, “What time is it?”  
Percy blinked before rolling over and checking his watch, “Just after ten,”  
It wasn’t surprising considering it had been nearly midnight when they had gone out to the shop and then stayed up talking until even later. “Ugh, I should be heading out to track soon,”  
“Yeah, I should probably head to the pool,” Neither of them moved. Percy glanced at her and they laughed a little before finally sitting up and getting a move on.  
Though she had only had a couple hours of sleep, Annabeth didn’t feel all too tired – in fact, that had been the best sleep she’d had since her first night after waking up here. It occurred to her that she slept best when in bed with Percy, but she couldn’t acknowledge that right now, she had things to do.

 

✧

 

The university college champions series was coming up and being the totally organised track team captain she was, Annabeth had totally not needed the reminder from the head coach to sort out the event sheets once she got to the track. She spent the day going through all the track team members, their personal bests and scheduling their events and heats accordingly.  
Though her sleep the previous night had been good, she could’ve used a couple more hours of it as by the time she had finished scheduling the championship _and_ actually getting some training done, she was falling asleep again.  
After grabbing a quick bite to eat, Annabeth headed home with the express intention of crashing into bed. But some small part of her refused to let her sleep until she had seen Percy – she rationalised it as acknowledging him would show that she wasn’t ignoring him again and sharing a bed with him the previous night had been no biggie.

Thankfully Percy arrived home not too long after herself and also seemed eager to head to bed. They exchanged quick quips about their day before they both agreed they should go to sleep. After having brushed her teeth and gotten changed, Annabeth found herself yet _still_ reluctant to let herself climb into bed. She found herself lingering by her doorway as Percy finished up in the bathroom. He finally emerged from the bathroom in just a towel about his waist and Annabeth felt her face heat not just a little. In an attempt not to stare at her fresh-out-of-the-shower housemate, Annabeth quickly fixed her stare to the wall just by Percy’s head – she didn’t really know what to say.  
Well that was a lie, she knew what she _wanted_ to say – wanted to ask if they could sleep together again. Not in a sexual way – although seeing Percy in just a towel, she couldn’t say the thought hadn’t crossed her mind – just to lie together like they had last night because it had made her feel grounded and safe. But she couldn’t say that – things were good and normal between them, she didn’t want to say anything that could jeopardise that. And the thought of Percy possibly turning her down would crush her. So, instead she said, “Goodnight. And, er, good luck tomorrow,”  
She registered Percy running another towel through his hair, even having the _audacity_ to smile at her before replying, “Yeah, you too,”  
Annabeth nodded, somehow still managing to linger for a moment before she turned to go to her room. “Uh Annabeth? Would you mind if I came and saw you compete tomorrow?” Annabeth turned back to him and saw a vulnerable flicker in his eye. She was a bit taken a-back at him asking her, he could just come along like anyone else, but she liked that he was asking her. “Yeah, of course, anyone can come watch,” Percy nodded, and she couldn’t help but to notice him fidget with his towel. “Which means I could come and watch you compete,”  
He seemed to perk up, “Yeah, you could,”  
“Great,” Annabeth felt herself smiling also. They were just smiling at each other for a moment and Annabeth felt herself wanting to go and hug him. But that probably wasn’t the best idea when he was basically naked, “Well night then,”  
She squeaked and disappeared into her bedroom, shutting the door on Percy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> competing with others and competing with the self

From all the groundshe had been making with Percy, and also in how Annabeth liked to carry herself, she hated herself for how easily she was reduced to awkwardness once again, wanting to get out the door without seeing Percy. From the stairs she could hear that Percy was already up, moving about in the kitchen. Sucking in a breath, trying to suppress the rising warmth in her face, she all but sprinted through the kitchen out of the door, throwing Percy a ‘good luck’ and barely processing him wishing her the same.

Although they hadn’t been _physically_ intimate last night, they had been emotionally intimate – the first time in the months they had been living together that they had really talked, and that seemed somehow more revealing than them being naked together.

Annabeth wasn’t the first one at the track, but thankfully no one paid her much attention as she practically burrowed herself into the corner of the stadium, exasperated with herself. She had been the one to hold out the olive branch of friendship, so to speak, and now they were finally acting like friends she was being all awkward again. She knew it wasn’t wise to continually ignore why she was acting this way, getting more and more in her head over a friendship, but right now she was thankful for the distraction of the track champions.  
Annabeth had always enjoyed track and competing – as a demigod it was like she had had to compete for her life, though now the stakes were lower. But as she took to the track in front of a stadium full of spectators they didn’t feel any lower than her life being on the line.

She had put herself down for 1500, 800 and then the 4x100 relay – the fifteen and eight were basically back to back, but at Camp she’d been able to keep a pace for literal miles and she had kept up training here, so she didn’t see why she couldn’t manage it.

The adrenaline was a familiar rush as she lined up amongst the others, even more so once she pulled an early lead after the first bend, quickly breaking away from the other runners.  
She took an easy win, almost too easy – she had picked up her pace over each of the three laps of the track, ahead of everyone else. But where before she had finished barely having breaking a sweat, she could feel it now as she walked around, cooling down.  
The track was quickly cleared and set for the next event, the 800. She lined up again. This time she stayed in the middle of the pack for longer, almost reminiscent of a battle formation. By the final lap, her and two others had split off out front and by the 200 mark, she pulled away at the home straight, but there was someone still at her shoulder. She tried to speed up to shake them off, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. Her legs were screaming, her breath short. The finishing line was in sight, _she was so close_. But then someone was sprinting past her, crossing the line before her.  
Annabeth crossed the line just after them, quickly followed by the rest of the runners. She congratulated the winner with a surprisingly genuine smile, but part of her still couldn’t get over the fact that she had been beaten. Or even that she was _so tired_. It was ridiculous – she was short of breath, aching and could feel a stitch attacking her side; that had never happened to her before after running like that. It was just then that she noticed the roaring crowd in the stands – the whole university had been watching, and seen her – _the captain_ – lose.

She went to walk off the building lactic acid and cool down before the relay, attempting to also walk off her annoyance and embarrassment at herself.

Her teammates interrupted her rest ~~and self-pity party~~ to practice their hand-overs for their relay, still keeping her as anchor even though she had lost her previous race.

The time came for them to line up for their race, waiting to be called to their leg and Annabeth was hyperaware of the stands surrounding them and the track and the people in them, reminding her that she had something to prove now.

Her adrenaline was building with each hand over. As the third leg runner approached her, it took all she had to keep facing forward, hand blindly outstretched (she imagined this must have been how Orpheus felt).  
But then the baton was being pushed into her hand and she was off. They were in the inside lane, meaning they had already been set behind everyone, at a disadvantage – a change-up from her being the one being chased to being the chaser. But when she was out in front, that familiar feeling of being chased kicked in again and she felt herself speeding up even more. Though the stakes were low as just a race, she could be convinced that her life was on the line; that feeling of being chased and knowing that if she didn’t out-run the chasers, she’d be dead. That feeling blinded her and she didn’t even realise she had crossed the finish line, that she hadn’t stopped running and someone had actually had to grab her shoulders and physically stop her. “Annabeth – you can stop running now,” Grover was shaking her a little. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, slowly coming back to where she was, _to reality_.  
_You can stop running now_ – the words echoed through her. Even though she thought she was settled in this life now, she was still having to be reminded that she could relax now – she had nothing left to run from.

And then her teammates were shouting around her, smiling and squealing, full of victory.

Then Percy joined them from the stands, grinning at her. “Wow Miss Chase, you really give the chase huh!” His voice got a little softer as he said, “You were amazing,” Annabeth found her grin at his awful pun on her name soften to a smile also. He seemed to raise his arms like he was going in for a hug but she found herself hesitating at him. He must have seen her obvious hesitation and dropped the movement and at that moment the rest of the stands were swarming them and cheering at Annabeth. She really wanted to hug Percy, but she found herself scared that she wouldn’t want to let go, that maybe she hadn’t fully let go of having Percy as any more than a friend.  
A girl came up behind Percy, putting snaking a hand around his arm. “We should get going for our own club champions,” tugging at his arm. She was pretty enough, if you were into tiny brunettes with pin straight hair; Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the girl **,** catching Percy’s face fall. “Well, I need to go – but I’ll catch you later?”  
“Yeah, I’ll see you at the pool,”  
He seemed to want to linger but the girlwas forcibly pulling him away from her now. “Later, Annabeth,” Annabeth gave a tight-lipped smile in return.

 

**_…_ **

 

Annabeth hadn’t yet set foot in the college’s leisure centre and pool – it seemed a separate place, like a temple of Percy that once she set foot in, she was being shared with a part of Percy. But she found her way to the stands just as Percy was up for his first event. He was looking up through the stands and when their eyes met Annabeth smiled and gave him a thumbs up, both of which he returned as he snapped his goggles on. She felt it unfair that looking not the best in a tight swim cap and pinched goggles was a universal experience, but clearly not for Percy – he still managed to pull it off.  
Annabeth was on the edge of her seat as the swimmers got up onto the blocks – Percy wasn’t a son of Poseidon here and she was intrigued, and even nervous, to see how he’d fare. But as the buzzer sounded and he dived Annabeth knew that it wouldn’t matter. Though he seemed to dive and move under the water in slow motion, as soon as he surfaced, already ahead of the other swimmers, he was an elegant blur. Annabeth watched with rapt attention, hands raw and throat raw from cheering Percy on as he won again and again. Only in the 200 IM did she see his perfection falter – even though he was still ahead, he was slowing down and his technique was slipping ever so slightly. The swimmer to his right was on his tail, and by their last 50 metres they were tied. The whole of the stands were up on their feet as they were both vying for the finish – they were stroke to stroke with ten metres left and then it was over. Everyone looked to the results board to see Percy’s name bumped down to second place. Annabeth had never known Percy to have lost a race in the water. But then she reminded herself that she didn’t really know Percy anymore – he wasn’t on the verge of being a god anymore, nor was he the son of one anymore. He was mortal, just like she was.

 

They all ended up at the fire pit at the far side of campus, not unlike the one at CHB and a blonde kid that resembled Will strumming a guitar in harmony to the crackling of the fire and the crackling of the chatter of the group. She was sat across from Percy and she’d glance over at him but she found herself always engaged by someone else wanting to talk to her and she couldn’t get to talk to Percy herself. She practically snorted at Grover at one point, his clumsy dance with his quadrouple decker s’more and could feel someone’s eyes on her; Percy was sat, just him, with a faint, almost soft smile on his face at her. Annabeth’s laugh eased off and she smiled back at him. The conversation seemed to have eased off of both of them as they just looked at each other. All the embarrassment she had felt from last night seemed to melt in the flames she looked at him through and into a soft feeling. He looked down before looking back to her, as if checking she was actually looking at _him_ – as if she’d ever been able to keep her eyes off of him. He made as if to come over to her but then some other guy, whose name she knew she should know,was there, “Annabeth! You were great out there today! Can’t wait to see how you do at capture the flag – hey-“ Annabeth tried to pay attention to what he was saying as he chatted away to her, her punctuating his monologue with the occasional ‘uh huh’, but she found she was paying more attention to Percy’s frown.  
Piper was popping around here and there snapping photos of people, candids as well as poses. Annabeth watched her snap some photos of Rachel and Percy, and the sight of them looking so comfortable together spiked that unfortunately familiar sense of jealousy and even a sharp spike of dislike for Rachel, but she quickly got herself in check, annoyed that she would feel so annoyed at someone else just because of her own insecurity. She was sure it was that intense feeling in Annabeth that prompted Rachel to catch her eye and call her over to them. Rachel stood, directing Annabeth to take her space beside Percy made Annabeth feel worse for feeling so jealous over her as Piper flitted about them, taking photos.

Annabeth turned to Percy, “So now the champions are over, I was thinking about capture the flag alliances and-“ But although it seemed that Piper giveth and she would also taketh away, for just as she had directing Annabeth and Percy to sit a little closer together, encouraging them to talk and ‘be candid’ as soon as she turned away and Annabeth was about to start actually talking to Percy, Piper called her away for a photo of the winning relay team and all the chatter that entailed.

 

Not long after things began to wind down and Annabeth was really starting to feel the exhaustion of the day getting to her. People were starting to disperse, many saying how they were going to stay out but Annabeth already knew she was done for the night and was going to catch the last campus shuttle bus back to her housing block rather than trekking by foot and assumed from the people Percy was stood with that he was staying out also. She gave a quick few hugs and started off when the boy himself called wait up just as the bus was pulling up. The bus was relatively empty, save the standard few students out of their heads, but he still sat next to her. They hadn’t really gotten to talk to each other all night – all day really – but now they were finally together. Where as before she been simultaneously scared of talking to Percy and also of not talking to him, scared of the emptiness between them, she felt comfortable just sitting with him.  
He seemed to be so, too, at least until he said, “Well done today,”  
She gave him a smile, “And you! The way you swam back to back that was seriously impressive, and so close too, **”**  
“Thanks, but yeah Kyleneeded that win – 200 IM is actually his event and he needed the time for regionals, I was just there to push him to get it,”  
“And did he?”  
“Yeah!”  
“Huh. I always saw coming second as just being the fastest loser,”  
Percy let out a small laugh, “You didn’t _lose_ by coming second – everything you do, how do you not burn yourself out? This isn’t a matter of life or death, Annabeth – we’re only mortal,”

 _Mortal –_ it was an odd word choice maybe that’s why it struck her so. She had been obsessed with comparing herself to how she was before. But she wasn’t the same as before. Annabeth didn’t have the strength of the gods in her bodily make up anymore but she was starting to realise that that didn’t mean she was any less strong.

 

It was a relatively short ride back, but she could feel her eyes really drooping, falling asleep and she wasn’t even really thinking when she rested her head on Percy’s shoulder. She felt him tense for a second before relaxing, and relaxing into her, shuffling a tad closer so that she could feel the heat radiating from where his leg had snuck closer to hers. She found herself angling herself towards him and felt him sigh a little. They were silent, and although she had wanted to talk to him so badly just before, now she felt she didn’t need to say anything. Where as previously she had not wanted to be near Percy and any potential emptiness there might be between them, contrary to the intensity of them she had been used to, Annabeth felt there was no place else she was meant to be. For a moment she let any barriers down and just allowed herself to be close to Percy.

She felt his absence like a cavity when they went back to their own bedrooms once they got in.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> studying for the present and tracings of the past

Annabeth and Percy had taken to studying together, as working with someone else with dyslexia made the prospect of studying less daunting, with someone struggling along with you whilst everyone around is getting along like it’s no big deal. The sight of them sat together on a small table, working together, making each other snigger and prompting the librarian to snipe at them, was pretty standard by now, often joined by Grover. Annabeth hadn’t even noticed how they’d fallen into a routine of grabbing a drink at the same place after, (when Grover was with them, going to play hacky sac for a bit after) around the same time, until Piper ambushed them outside their usual shop and pointed it out. “You two _always_ grab a drink here at this time, it’s like common knowledge,” Annabeth was thankful that Piper wasn’t a monster or enemy soldier – in her past life falling into habits that could be monitored was a sure-fire way to get ambushed and attacked by monsters or enemy soldiers – Annabeth was actually glad that it was just the girls doing the ambushing here.  
“I just need two models for my shoot – come on!”

“And we’re the only two people you could find?” Piper didn’t acknowledge Annabeth’s question, just grabbed them both and led them to a small studio.

Piper had always had an eye on how to make things beautiful, even if one thought it couldn’t be and that was no different here. Rachel was at the studio, too – something to do with needing models for her art pieces alongside Piper’s photography.

Piper flitted between micro-managing Percy and Annabeth’s poses – right down to fly-away hairs – to letting the two of them just chill and talk whilst she skitted around them, snapping pictures. She also did some stand-alone ones of Percy and Annabeth separate; Annabeth tried not to stare at Percy as Piper snapped shots of him. People had always said he looked like a god – she had known Piper in her previous life to have almost mistaken him for a god and even as a mortal, he still did.

For a second, Piper and Rachel stood in the corner together, whispering and periodically looking back at Percy and Annabeth. When the girls turned back to them, it was Rachel who was directing them – the calculating look in her eye was accompanied by a twinkle of mischief that Annabeth wasn’t sure what to make of.  
She then had them leaning on each other, sat down and just them generally being close to each other – something about the contrasting similarities of them.  
“Okay, just a couple more shots then I’ll release you,” Rachel went and grabbed some chalk, smearing it in the front of both Percy and Annabeth’s hair before directing them to lie down in opposite directions but next to each other, basically cheek to cheek. Piper then hovered over them, snapping shots of them, even kneeling over them for close ups, making Annabeth laugh a little. Annabeth tried to apologise – Piper had directed them to ‘look stoic’ – but she said that was fine and just pushed her camera closer into Annabeth’s face. That just made Annabeth laugh even more, prompting Percy to giggle too. Piper kept snapping pictures as they giggled before directing them to be ‘stoic’ again, adjusting Annabeth’s hair so that it fell with Percy’s.

“You know your eye colours really compliment each other,” Rachel remarked over Piper’s shoulder as she scrolled through the pictures, letting Percy and Annabeth up. “Like, yours are stormy sky to Percy’s stormy sea,” Piper hummed a little, looking between the two. “Okay, you can go,” Piper dismissed them, but then Rachel came up to Annabeth, “Hey, do you want to grab a hot chocolate or something? My treat for modeling,” She noted that Rachel hadn’t stopped Percy to thank him with a hot chocolate, but Annabeth agreed anyway.

 

Annabeth had been friends with Rachel before, after some hostility from her own part, and she didn’t see why she couldn’t do the same here. Once they had their drinks and had actually started talking, it seemed she and Rachel still shared a similar way of thinking – Rachel’s critical artist’s eye matching the her own tactical, daughter of Athena way of seeing the world. It was also nice to talk about architecture with someone who could appreciate it in the same way as she did.  
“So, what’s up with you and Percy?” Annabeth was taken a back by Rachel’s forthrightness, although it was something she appreciated about the other girl.  
“Erm, well he’s my housemate,”  
“Is that it? Because I can defo see some chemistry there,” Rachel raised her eyebrow for effect. Annabeth just rolled her eyes, but fiddled with the cardboard sleeve of her hot chocolate. Although she had already identified that she was going to have to deal with these conflicting feelings she had towards her housemate, any time the thought or feeling had cropped up, she instantly stifled it. “I’m not really focused on boys at the moment. But how about you?”  
“Oh no, Percy’s not my type. I mean he is good-looking and all, the stereotypical guy type, but I much prefer my girlfriend,”  
Annabeth let out a short breath she hadn’t know she was holding – a part of her knew there was (probably) nothing going on between them, but it was nice to get verbal clarification.

They continued to chat a bit after that, Rachel gushing about her girlfriend to Annabeth as they walked back to the student housing together.

 

 

That night Annabeth looked at herself in the mirror as she was brushing her teeth. She still had the streak of chalk in her hair – just where her grey streak had been after she and Percy had shouldered the burden of Atlas. Though that had been horrible, the lingering streak it had left in hers and Percy’s hair had made her feel more connected to him, made others see that they were connected.

She got into bed, still twirling the chalked strand of hair around as she fell asleep.  
_She was holding up the sky, it was as though she was going to get squashed – it felt as if she was holding up everyone’s suffering. The scene shifted to a battlefield. No, not_ a _battlefield, it was_ the battlefield _yet she was stood where Percy had been standing when she had fallen, but she was still shouldering the heavens. Percy was in her place and he looked up at her. He dropped his weapons and reach his arms up – she could feel him taking the burden of the sky with her. For a moment she felt relieved, she wasn’t shouldering the burden alone, but she knew what was going to happen before it did. Annabeth screamed out to him, but Gaia’s forces were swarming him. She was still screaming for him, screaming-_

“Annabeth!” Someone was shaking her awake. A boy with black hair and sea green eyes was hovering over her. Her eyes slid over him, wide and terrified and suddenly full of tears that begin to fall down her face. He blinks for a second at her and in the reflection of his eyes Annabeth sees how she looks somehow older than the boy before her, reflecting how she been tried beyond her years in her past life. But then his arms were sliding around her in a hug and she let herself be held by him.

 

When Annabeth awoke, a large part of her was relieved to find that she was alone. She got dressed and went downstairs but when she saw Percy, she didn’t immediately rush to get out the door as she had previously wont to do. “Morning,” She smiled, to which he returned over his plate of blue waffles. “Did you sleep well?” The question felt gentle, tender. “Uh, in the end, yeah I did – and you?” Percy nodded.  He looked as if he was about to say something more when his alarm went off, signaling if he didn’t leave now, he was going to be late. He sighed and left with the promise of a catch up later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tysm to everyone who's made it this far and esp to those who left comments! just wanted to say this story is not abandoned, i've got some chapters written but they still need some tweaking. i'm in the middle of my a-levels rn, but more chapters shall be coming after they're finished in june  
> :･ﾟ✧ (ง'̀-'́)ง :･ﾟ✧


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> capturing of the flag and of other things

Where as before Annabeth had been using training as her excused to set aside her academic endeavours, she found herself now focusing (or rather _obsessing_ ) on planning her Capture the Flag strategy. She had made a plan of the forest on the edge of campus where the match was set to take place, planning out where she’d position the combined swimmers and runners whilst also trying to anticipate where the opposing team would position and play.  
When had wasted no time in asking Percy and the swim team to ally with her and the track team for capture the flag. Although she was motivated by her competitiveness – especially in the weeks after the club champions, she wanted to maintain the winning streak – when she actually asked him, she felt so nervous, almost like she was asking him out. She was courting his as an ally, not courting him for a romantic relationship.

 

 

 _That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.  
_ Capture the Flag at CHB was an exercise in survival and tactical skills, all a demigod would need when the gods needed them.

These flags weren’t silk and adorned with divine symbols – just red versus blue. The teams were announced before the participating student body, the swim team and track team allied with the judo teamversus the archery, wrestlingand fencingteams.  
Where CHB used weapons, the university used dyed pouches that were hurled, and batons with these pouches at either end mock arrows, again with those dyed pouches at the end instead of deadly steel tips.

She remembered her first ever game of Capture the Flag with Percy, where she had put him on border control, not sure what to expect of him but certainly not all that much, and then witnessing him take down five Ares kids. This bumbling, inexperienced eleven year old against the most brutish kids at camp.

“Blue team, forward!” Annabeth yelled. The combined teams followed after her as she ran to take their position in their territory, the team whooped and cheered and Annabeth was buzzing. Percy caught up to her, now running along side her, “You still leaving me behind at corner border control?”  
“It’s where you work best,”  
He gave her a confused look before she started to slow and directed everyone to take their positions for the horn to sound saying they could start. As soon as it sounded, there was a moment of complete silence and stillness. “Hold, hold,” She hissed. And then the forest erupted.  
The red team came running at them, and Annabeth yelled to hold until they were 100 yards away and then unleashed the team. As the two teams were about to collide and pouches beginning to be thrown, Annabeth ducked around them, slinking her way through the edge of the forest and play territory towards where the opposing flag would be stationed.

She slowed, listening to the chaos of the fight. She could hear Grover leading the barrage – he could be quite intimidating. She had a feeling of something going to attack her, but it could just be here first time back in a fighting atmosphere.

“Duck!”

Her body acted for her as she threw herself into a crouch, a blue pouch flying over her head. She heard a _thump_ and frustrated _ugh_ before she stood, looking round to see Percy bracing another pouch. “Running away from the action, Chase?”  
“If that’s what you call getting the flag, then sure,” She started off again. But then Percy followed her. “Percy, you should stay here,”  
“After I just saved your butt? No, I’m coming with,”  
Annabeth was slightly taken aback. Percy hadn’t really talked back or retorted to her like this before, even though it was just a little, and… she liked it. It seemed he’d been a little scared to actually talk back to her, but she felt closer to him. “Alright then,”  
He nodded resolutely and jogged lightly alongside her.

They quickly reached the deep end of the forest where the red team flag was being kept.

They both had to duck behind trees as two more players ran past and they heard one say to the flag guards, “Has anyone come for the flag? Because no one has seen Percy or Annabeth the whole match,”  
Annabeth could have sworn she heard a snort but a thump of someone being elbowed masked it. “She could be here, listening!”  
Annabeth glanced over at Percy, indicating he go around one way and she go the other. They’d have to work stealthily, luring away and tapping out players without alerting the others. They both stayed behind their trees as Annabeth leaned down and picked up a stone, throwing it. It was a cliché technique, but clichés were considered cliché for a reason, because they were good. And it did work – the nearest flag guard wandered out of the make-shift and sloppy at best formation. Annabeth snuck out from her tree, pursuing him further out of where the flag was and coming behind him, colouring him with a pouch on the back of the neck, yanking his staff from his hands. He let out a “Hey!” but Annabeth had already ducked away and rolled behind a bush before he could see her, clutching the short staff to her. This was exhilarating. She quickly took the red colour pouches from the staff, replacing them with blue when she heard another two players come. “What happened?” one asked.  
“I don’t know – I came to check out the noise and then something got me _and_ took my staff!”  
“Maybe it was a ghost!” the other new guard said. “I was _just_ saying to Ronan and Kian how these woods are haunted-“  
“Oh shut up, it wasn’t a ghost – it just means an enemy player tagged you and is probably still here. Get off the court,”  
Annabeth heard the tagged player huff and trudge off. She could hear the two new-comers looking through various bushes and behind trees – they’d soon be at her hiding place. Adrenaline was coursing through her – more than from the track meet – this was where she was meant to be, back on the battlefield, even if battle wasn’t taking place anymore.  
She waited until one of them was just beside her hiding place before striking him with one end of the staff, colouring his shin blue and when the other came over, branding his chest blue, also. They both let out a frustrated noise and glared at Annabeth as they marched off the playing field and Annabeth headed back to where the flag was to meet Percy.

She ran back to the grove and could hear the sound of wood on wood fighting. She arrived in time to see Percy against one of the guys from the wrestling team, pushing him back with his forearms, dodging attacks. The guy was brandishing one of the batons, but was clumsy with it and couldn’t manage to tag Percy with it but he was quite visibly getting violent. She was about to intervene when Percy suddenly grabbed the middle of the guy’s baton and jabbed him in the stomach with one end, colouring his stomach red and forcing him to sit down wiwth an audible ‘oof’. Percy turned away from him, thinking he’d tagged him out of the game when Annabeth saw the boy stand back up, a nasty look in his eye as he reached a hand into the pouch at his hip, but Annabeth threw one of her pouches, finally colouring him blue. “You’re out,” She said, catching Percy give her a smile at her appearance and the wrestler glare at her before finally trudging off also.

“You manage to survive okay without me, huh?”  
“Well considering I just saved _your_ ass we’ll call it even. Now come on, we have to get that flag,”  
There were only two flag guard remaining, a small kid who looked even smaller as the sun was beginning to quickly set and a tall, but rather weedy guy. Annabeth and Percy watched him from behind a bushel for a moment, assessing him – he seemed to be whispering to himself. If Annabeth strained her ears, she could hear him muttering. “But what if that old woman _did_ die here and she’s out for revenge – Ryder was just saying-“  
“Hush up Ronan, there’s no such thing,” There was a pause before he said, “And anyway, Ryder said that she wailed before she struck,”

“Have you got any pouches left?” Percy whispered. Annabeth checked the purse at her hip and came up empty. “Do you?” Percy shook his head. Annabeth frowned but her attention was brought back to the two remaining guards.

A brush of wind swept by, causing a branch to stir and she saw the little guy yelp, causing the other guy to jump too. The little guy laughed a little, “Must be the wind….” And the other guy glared at him, but when he turned away Annabeth could see that he was spooked as he stepped a little closer to his comrade.

A lightbulb went off in Annabeth’s head as she had a plan. She quickly relayed it to Percy and could see the wicked mischievous grin before he snuck from behind their bushel. Annabeth watched as everything grew still again for a few moments and had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep from sniggering at Percy’s ghostly ‘wooOOOOOooooohhhh’.

“Huh! What was that?” The little guy – Ronan – squeaked.  
“I-I don’t know,”

Annabeth rose slowly from her hiding spot, walking around the edge of the glade, not watching if she stepped on branches on her way to the flag. She even ran her hand through some of the branches, disturbing them.  
“Did that sound like the wind to you? Because it didn’t to me. In fact, it sounded like-“  
Percy let out another wail, from the opposite side of the glade now, but closer to the boys. They both shrieked and jumped together, hugging each other. “Please don’t kill us ugly old ghost lady!” The taller kid wailed.

Percy rose up before them, a silhouette in the almost-set sun, and still wailing.  
The two shrieked, clinging to one another as Percy put his hands on his hips, “You know, I wouldn’t call a ghost ugly if I were trying to keep them from killing me,”

The two boys looked puzzled but at that moment Annabeth sprang from behind them, yelling “Boo!” causing the boys to shriek and clutch each other all over again. They didn’t have time to hang around and laugh at the poor, spooked boys – they grabbed the flag, each a hand on the pole and ran.

They through the woods and though they were deep into the woodland and trees were strewn everywhere, it was like they parted for Percy and Annabeth as they ran across the borderline, claiming their victory.

The woodland erupted in the blue team’s cheers. She felt elated, like she could do anything – winning. But she hadn’t won alone. Standing beside Percy, holding the flag up high they were beaming at each other and everyone else seemed to fall away. His eyes were only on her and her eyes were only on him, the thrill of a win coursing through her she could just-

“Annabeth!” Someone had turned her to look at them, ripping her gaze from Percy. “You’ll be coming to the victory party at later, right?”  
“Yeah, and do you still want to come and get ready with us?” A pretty girl Annabeth recognised as Valentina looped her arm with Annabeth’s, disengaging her from the flag and from Percy’s side. The girls began to march her off already discussing what they were going to wear to the party, and how they were going to do their hair. Annabeth looked back to Percy where he looked a little put-out, and called to him that she’d see him at the party.

 

Valentina and her friends took Annabeth back to their accommodation. She tried to protest that she didn’t have anything to wear and should go back to her own place but Valentina just shushed her and pushed her towards her wardrobe, where she began rooting through it before coming up with a scarlet mini dress. “Here,” Valentina winked at her.

Annabeth didn’t really know what to say so she thanked Val and set about doing her hair and make-up.  
The girls had music on and they were all chattering away to each other, Annabeth included. It felt good to get ready with friends – she hadn’t had much time for parties or even a steady social life before, always pre-occupied with wondering about her own survival. But here, she could enjoy getting herself ready with friends, sharing beauty tips and techniques, sharing gossip and helping each other get ready.

They even all walked into the party together, arm in arm. It seemed as if most of the other people had arrived by the time they came, but Valentina had insisted that was the best time to show up to a party.

Annabeth and Valentina went to go and get drinks, but when Valentina offered her a vodka coke, Annabeth declined – she had learned her lesson with alcohol at parties, and besides Rachel and her had arranged to have a coffee/ hot chocolate date the next morning.

Annabeth really wanted to go and find Percy, since this was _their_ victory party, but Valentina kept pulling her over to dance, and people kept congratulating her on such a win and wanting to get pictures together – it was never ending.

She at last finally managed to get away and slip out the back door to get some fresh air in the garden. She was just enjoying the night air and her virgin lemonade when she felt someone come up behind her. She sighed, about to tell them to please just leave her in peace for a bit when she came face to face with- “Percy – I’ve been looking for you all night!” She hugged him, because she had missed him. He hugged her back, hand still resting lightly on her back, “You too! Bit weird this is a victory party, yet I’ve hardly seen the person who accomplished the victory,”  
She shoved him slightly, “We won together,”  
“But it was your brilliant plan!”  
“It was a brilliant plan wasn’t it,” She smiled before faltering. “I hope Kian and Ronan are okay though,”  
“I spoke to them earlier – they’re chill. They were even poking fun at themselves for getting so scared,”  
“Well, your ghostly old lady wailing was straight out of a horror flick, it was incredibly scary,”  
“I hope that wasn’t sarcasm,” He raised an eyebrow at her.  
“Maybe I need another rendition to check,”  
Percy drew away from her, beginning his _woooOOOOooOOoOh_. She tried to mask her giggle, “Oh yes, very terrifying,” Percy continued, wiggling his fingers at her before going in to tickle her, fully releasing her laugh. She pushed against his chest still laughing, snorting for him to stop. She froze at that less than elegant sound that had just escaped her, but he just pulled her in closer, beginning to wail in her ear, which just set her about laughing all over again. When he finally did stop, Annabeth had tears in her eyes and was blinking them away as she looked up at Percy.  
They just stood together, her in his arms, looking at each other and she felt the mood shift. Percy spoke, his voice low, “Are you drunk?”  
She shook her head at him. “Are you?” He shook his head. They continued simply stare at each other, still stood close together. She wasn’t sure if it was possible any two people could stand as close as they were in that moment without their lips touching.  
And then their lips _were_ touching. And not long after, it wasn’t just their lips.  
They drew apart, holding hands as they tried not to run from the house and back to their own. But as soon as they were back at their own house, Annabeth hopped up the stairs, turning in the middle to grasp Percy’s shirt collar to bring him into a kiss, a hint and promise of something more, before breaking into and hurrying up the rest of the stairs to her room, him tripping up the stairs after her.

Once in her room, their shoes kicked off, they reconnected, slipping their arms around each other and Annabeth making good on that promise of a kiss from before. Percy’s hands were looped around the base of her back, but she could feel them tentatively travelling up her back to the top of the zip and could feel him fingering it, waiting for her yes to his unanswered question. And she answered him by turning, moving her hair over her shoulder to allow him to unzip her, tipping her head back slightly as he kissed at her shoulder. She let him get half way done with undoing her dress before turning, placing a hand on his chest – she didn’t wan it so be so rushed this time, she wanted to feel and revel in everything, in every aspect of this with him. She lifted his shirt, planting open-mouthed kisses up his torso, hand still planted on his chest, then up his neck until re-capturing his mouth.  
And she then fully dropped her dress and inhibitions to the floor, revealing how the dress she had borrowed had not warranted a bra. He looked at the way he always did and Annabeth wondered for a moment if he ever like her the way she ~~more than~~ liked him. But then he backed her onto the bed, fully taking off his shirt and kicking off his jeans and underwear, too as he crawled atop her, kissing her.  
He kept a hand in her hair, one braced at her hip – she loved his touches, but relished in the sharp intake of breath that escaped him when she began to run her hand up and down his cock. He let out a breathy moan at her touch but then Percy put his hand on hers, halting her movements. His eyes were hazy and face blushed, and he seemed to be shivering a little as he murmured, “Let me,”. He sat up and told her to lay back, and she did, her knees still up and slightly apart. He put a hand on the inside of her knee and she parted her legs more for him, and Percy leaned in, placing kisses on the inside of her thigh.  
Annabeth watched him, not sure how far he was going to go, but more than invested. She watched as Percy kissed up the inside of her leg before slipping his tongue between her legs. Percy had always had a quick, sharp tongue but with her, he took his time, changing up the shape of his tongue as he licked up inside her. She dug her hands into his hair, trying to ground herself in this moment, in _him,_ before she got too caught up in the feeling.  
Percy lightly grazed his fingers over her legs, his hands snaking up to her hips, gently rubbing his thumbs over her bone as he continued to swirl his tongue inside her. Annabeth was biting her lip so hard she was scared she may draw blood, her hands tightening in his hair, tugging at it slightly. Percy looked up at her, eyes dark. He wiped a hand across his mouth, leaning back into her, “Do you like that?” _There was that sharp tongue_ ; it was really a wicked question – did she like it, could he not see how worked up she was, how hard she was trying to contain herself? Annabeth was scared that if she opened her mouth she wouldn’t be able to form cohesive words, so instead she just nodded enthusiastically. Percy shot her a wicked smirk, leaning to kiss up her navel, stopping to pay extra attention to her chest, kissing and sucking so she knew he would leave a mark. Annabeth could only watch, breathless, as he dragged his lips back down to between her legs. She opened her legs wider for him, sinking her hands into his hair once more as he licked back up inside of her with a new vigour.  
She couldn’t contain herself any longer, finally letting out a vocal moan. His eyes flicked up to her and she could see the smirk in them. Percy had always enjoyed in seeing her lose her control and positively reveled in being the one to make her do so.  
She was falling apart at his hands – or his tongue, rather – but as she fell apart, breathing heavily, she was ready to come back together with him. He braced himself on his arms either side of her chest, body lying between her legs, where she was very conscious of how much he had enjoyed making her feel so good, his sea green eyes bright and dark all at the same time. He was sporting a proudly wicked smile which she couldn’t wait to make melt into something else.  
Annabeth pushed him and herself up, swinging her legs from under him into a straddle position as she pushed him back down into the bed. She lowered herself onto him. He gently thrusted his hips up into her, and she moved her hips in return, rolling them, showing him she wanted more.  
His hands were back at her hips, the gentle massaging of his thumbs once again at her bone and ligament a pleasant contrast to where his hips were moving more powerfully into her. She ran her fingers through her own hair, knowing Percy’s eyes were on her, tossing her rough curls behind her and sighing, “ _Oh, Percy,”_. Percy had slowed, with each thrust more powerful than the next, but with her sighing his name he also moaned as he moved into her a final time, which caused her to tip forward slightly, grabbing his arms to keep herself up.  
They were both breathing heavily as Annabeth leaned over him, her hair falling and creating a curtain between them and the rest of the world. Annabeth smiled at his equally as blissed out smile, swinging herself off of him, moving to snuggle down next to him. Percy pulled the previously discarded duvet over them, snaking an arm of her hip and pulling her close. She turned so that her body was facing his, and put an arm around him in return, pressing a kiss to where his heart beat before cuddling into him. She listened to the faint thud of his heartbeat in the silence of her room, the rhythmic noise slow and content, luring her into sleep before a sudden thought stopped her.  
Percy must have sensed the change in her as he sat up a little, alarm in his voice, “What is it?”  
“My phone – I should set an alarm, it’s my turn to organize the study notes for class,” She made a half-hearted attempt to get out of the bed but didn’t even fight off Percy’s arm around her hip, pulling her back down to his side. “You can’t seriously be thinking about that right now,” He snuggled his face into her neck. She tucked her arm over his, leaning back into him with a quiet, breathy laugh; she could feel Percy’s breath over her shoulder, his voice sleepy, “Can never switch you off, huh,”  
“If only you’d ask,” She whispered.

 

✧

 

Annabeth was awoken by the sound of her bedroom door opening. Blinking her eyes open slowly, she propped herself up a little on her elbow. “Rachel – what’s up?”  
Rachel, with a smug look on her face, jutted her chin at where Percy was cuddled against her side, his face angled into her neck as he continued to sleep, with an arm slung over her waist. She felt a blushing warm blooming up her neck. “I-I had a nightmare. He just came in to make sure I was alright. Why don’t you just leave and I’ll meet you at the coffee shop,”  
Rachel raised her eyebrows but nodded slowly, still smirking, “Hm,”

Annabeth thought Rachel might take the hint and get lost before Percy woke up, but was still there. Annabeth took the pillow she had been sleeping on and chucked it at Rachel, hoping to goad her into actually leaving now before this got embarrassing, but she seemed to have the opposite effect. Percy stirred a little, nuzzling Annabeth’s neck a little. “Morning,” His voice was rough from sleep and his lips brushed her neck, sending a barely suppressed shiver down her spine. He blinked up to see Rachel _still there_ with her arms crossed and still smirking at them. He propped himself up on his side. (Annabeth resolved to staring at the ceiling and pretending this wasn’t happening.) “Hey, Rach. What are you doing here?”  
“Oh, Annabeth and I had a date this morning,”  
“Oh, well don’t let me keep you,” He slowly withdrew his arm from around Annabeth’s waist, brushing his cheek over her shoulder as he rolled over and closed his eyes again. “Have fun,” He waved his arm at them as Annabeth got out of the bed, him snuggling down into her duvet like he belonged there.

 

Rachel and Annabeth walked in silence and worked in near silence, much to the annoyance of the librarian, who kept hovering around them, waiting for an opportunity to splatter them with spittle. She didn’t have anything to be embarrassed of, Rachel hadn’t seen anything _explicit_. But she could feel herself blushing whenever she thought about it and with Rachel’s eyes flicking at her, she stared resolutely at the page of her textbook, of which she hadn’t taken in more than a word for the past forty minutes. But she didn’t have to explain anything – this was _her_ life. Her second chance at that, she wasn’t going to hold herself back.

As they finished up, she left Rachel to grab something to eat – she had woken up late anyway and it was basically lunchtime. There was a couple sat together, laughing and sat close – she found herself missing that kind of casual intimacy but also refused to see herself doing that with anyone right now. But still, it made her crave any kind of intimacy. She took her phone out, scrolling through her contacts when she walked clean into someone.  
She looked up, apology ready on her tongue, “Percy,”  
“Oh, sorry, Annabeth. You catching lunch? Mind if I join?”  
“Uh, yeah sure. I was actually just about to text you,” She hadn’t known it until she said it.

As they waited for Percy to get a panini, the café was suddenly full. They went out, but all the usual spots also seemed to be mysteriously full with people. It was a nice day so they ended up perching on the fountain, eating their lunch. It was nice, just sitting together – they didn’t discuss what had happened last night, but she didn’t regret it. Just sitting here, talking with Percy like normal

She had been so caught up in him and the fear had hit her that this might cause another roadblock in their friendship. She didn’t want to force any of the history she had had with Percy, didn’t want to force anything on him. But just sitting with him here, she could forget all that – it just felt normal. And not in a boring mundane way, but in a comfortable way.  
Percy even splashed her, she laughed with a ‘hey!’ and splashed him back. She was about to splash him back when the top of the hour bell rung, high and loud across the campus. She froze – the noise was like an ultimatum. It was common belief across the university that any couple sat at the fountain when the top of the hour struck were destined to be married, and whatnot.  
Percy nudged her, “Is something up?” She focused back on him. He hadn’t seemed to notice the significance of their sitting at the fountain as the bell had struck. But then she reminded herself – the bell ringing was significant only for couples. And she also had to remind herself that she and Percy weren’t like that, as if his blankness didn’t tell her he couldn’t see her that way anyway.

Pushing aside the stinging feeling in her chest, Annabeth gave him a smile, “It’s nothing,”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sense and vulnerability

One would think that _the thing at the fountain_ would have been a wake up call to Annabeth, that she needed to back off and stop indulging herself when she knew she couldn’t feel this way because she was only going to get herself hurt. But no –Annabeth had _really_ been letting herself slip when it came to Percy. She had found herself turning down Rachel and everyone’s invitations to go out, even making up excuses to get out of her standing study date with Malcolm in order to spend time with Percy. They wouldn’t even go out and do anything, generally just studying and then ending up ordering take-out and watching a film on the sofa, it was stupid to admit.

That night was the reveal of Piper’s photography collection, featuring some of Rachel’s art, and it was the first time Annabeth had been out in a fortnight.  
She went around the collection alone, with the promise of meeting up with Percy after. Piper had even managed to make the university’s dingy grey Olympia Lecture building look aesthetically pleasing. There were shots of Grover, him with Juniper, candids of Leo and Jason with Piper herself. In one of the pictures, Annabeth noticed herself and Percy laughing in the background, and in another Percy and herself pulling a face, just out of the camera’s focus. There were shots from the university club champions; ones of Percy mid butterfly stroke, Annabeth just as she was about to throw a javelin.

On some of the pictures, Rachel had painted over them, creating a beautiful mesh between the art and the photo.

And then there was the one of them laid down, their hair smudged together with chalk and a close-up with on their eyes, almost reminiscent of yin and yang. She couldn’t help but to think that their eyes _did_ in fact compliment each other.

The closing picture was a photo Annabeth had never seen before, despite her being in it. It was a big group shot, must’ve been taken at the camp fire, accompanied by Rachel’s art that Annabeth swore was actually crackling and moving. Everyone was laughing and smiling in the picture– carefree and _safe._ She never thought she’d see such a picture, a snapshot of pure serenity with no underlying threat of that being ripped away at any moment.

“Is my work really that good it inspires tears?” Piper was at her side, grinning. Annabeth hadn’t even noticed her eyes had become dewy at the final picture. “In all seriousness, Piper, these are really good,”  
“Do you have any favourite photos? Those ones of you n Perce turned out well, don’t you think,” Rachel had come up to Piper and Annabeth, nudging Annabeth with her elbow, Annabeth rolled her eyes, biting her lip. “Oh and speak of the devil,” She turned to Percy who had just come up to them. “Congrats Pipes, Rach, these are actually some really great photos. Hey, the ones of Annabeth and I look good, huh?” Annabeth purposefully ignored the two girls’ exaggerated raising of their eyebrows. “Yeah, they really did, Percy – you two just look so natural together! Welp, we’re going to go mingle and collect more compliments on my amazing photography skills,” Piper grinned, Rachel gave them a wink and they darted off, Annabeth just issuing a nervous laugh as she and Percy were left alone. “Those two really have a gift for this – like who knew the lecture hallcould look so beautiful with just the right angle and lighting? And I swear I could _hear_ the crackling of the fire in Rachel’s painting!” Annabeth smiled at Percy, her eyes sliding over her shoulder to see Piper watching them with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, do you mind grabbing me a drink?” Percy nodded a ‘sure’; as he left her alone, Piper came over to her. “You know, you and Percy should just make it official already,”  
Now it was Annabeth’s turn to raise her eyebrows, “Excuse me?”  
“The two of you keep turning down our invitations to come out and to what – ‘study at home’?”  
“That’s what friends do!” Annabeth sputtered. She longed to explain why it hurt her so much to hear people talk about them that way when she knew Percy didn’t see her in that way, despite what she may feel for him herself.  
But all she could do was roll her eyes at Piper’sinsinuations – she knew Piper was only teasing and didn’t mean any harm, but Annabeth was perfectly happy not dealing with any feelings by herself, she didn’t want anyone else impressing upon that. Or, she wasn’t really ‘perfectly happy’ with her feelings, but the point still stood. Lately, her feelings had been eating away at her, but she refused to confront them in any logical way because her feelings weren’t logical. She knew deep down it was because she couldn’t handle it if Percy didn’t return her illogical feelings and she was scared of losing him – she had lost so much in her previous life, she had every right to be cautious, to protect herself.

Annabeth excused herself to get some fresh hair, needing to clear her head. She was a whirlwind of thoughts and feelings and right now she just needed a distraction, an interruption to her chaos-

“Annabeth,” Percy ran to catch her up. “Why’d you go?”

She rubbed her temple before dropping her hand with a sigh, “I was a feeling a bit ill, came out to get some fresh air,”

Percy cocked his head at her, “Uh huh. Well, good thing I got you some water then,”  
“Thanks,” She took the cup of water he offered and turned from him, but he still stood with her. “Is that all?” She rounded on him, her words and demeanour far more aggressive than she intended. The taken aback look on Percy’s face just made her feel worse. “If you want to be alone that’s chill, but you don’t have to ditch me and then shut me out,” He sighed, his brows furrowing as she knew him to do when he was battling his thoughts. “Annabeth, I can’t go back to square one with you when things have been so – good,” He dropped his arms in defeat.  
She didn’t really know what to make of that. Annabeth knew she was in the wrong for just leaving Percy, for taking her own feelings out on him when deep down she knew she was in this mess because she wasn’t allowing herself to be vulnerable. She had to be honest with him. “It just – it just hurts to be around you right now,”

Percy’s eyes grew large with a pleading look and he shook his head slightly, reaching out to her, “Wha- why?”

Annabeth just looked at him. How could she answer that? How could she explain to him how she felt, how it would be so easy just to surrender to this dream world and forget what she left behind – but that wouldn’t be fair. Because Annabeth had known him already, had loved him already. She couldn’t explain how she’d had to let him go once and now the prospect of having to let go of him altogether, or even not having him at all, hurt her more than words could say.  
So she just shook her head. “It just hurts, Percy,” She shrunk away from him, walking away, not being able to bring herself to look at him.  
The fact that she had to accept that Percy wasn’t hers anymore, and that she had to be willing to let him initiate things, to subject herself to the fact that that may never happen made her ache. But this way – if she pushed him away before he could do that to her – she could control that ache.

There may not be any monsters in this world, but that didn’t make it free from hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just spur of the moment decided to post these two chapters - i edited them a while ago and didn't look them over before posting them now lmao  
> I'm so random lmao like  
> rawr xD
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> also no one asked but here's my mess of a tumblr that literally is just for my own enjoyment and not to accumulate followers, @reebokhardo lmao   
> also also fr tysm for the comments on the previous chapters, honestly eased this process for me and just helped pick up life in general! big love at people who comment, esp the people who commented on this particular fic♡♡  
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> sorry exam stress has majorly got to me lmao
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> need to stop punctuating w lmao 
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> lmao


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> development of vulnerability and regression of sense

Despite Percy saying he didn’t want to go back to square one with her, that’s exactly where they were now, but this time with Annabeth being the one on the outside and she had honestly earned that position. With him always seeming to have just left as she had arrived and holing himself up at the pool or in his room, she now realised what she had put him through when she had been the one icing him out.   
She was now forced to recognise how awful she must have come across to him, to have _been_ to him. Wanting to talk and reach out to and connect with someone that only offered an ice wall in return. But she had been even worse to him, because she had offered a promise of warmth. Sleeping with him then ignoring him – it must have seen that she was using him for sex. She’d admit that the first time she had needed a distraction and had found that in Percy, which was wrong, but the second time, she really had wanted to be close to him. And yet, she was too much of a coward to be vulnerable and say that to him, to say anything to him about how she felt about him.

They had been having so much fun, spending their down time together and just spending time together because they enjoyed each other’s company. Even if he didn’t like her like she liked him, at least they had been having fun together – they were still best friends. But no – Annabeth was a coward. In her attempts to try and not lose Percy _~~again~~_ , she had done just that. This was meant to be her second chance, her reward from the gods for all that she had done for them _~~ie suffered~~_ and she hadn’t wanted to lose Percy again.

It was also made worse because despite her efforts, despite all this stemming from her repressing her feelings so as she wouldn’t lose Percy, that had led to her doing exactly that (losing him). What was worse was that she had lost him – her best friend, above all – because she was trying not to lose him; in disregarding her feelings for him, she had also disregarded any feelings he may have for her. But now none of that mattered – they were living in the same house, but might as well be living in different worlds and _she_ was the cause of that.

 

Although Annabeth hated exams, and how one’s worth was directly tied to the result, she was actually thankful for them at this moment in time. It forced her to focus on something else, ~~rather than the gaping void in her time now she and Percy weren’t exactly speaking~~. But she was also thankful for how it forced to confront Percy - there he was, just a table over and noticeably struggling with his revision. She wondered how to play it – go over to him and act like nothing was wrong? Or should she just confess that she _~~really~~_ liked him, right here, right now – get it out there. _No_ , she couldn’t put that on him in public. _Just get up and go up to him first and go from there._ Annabeth rose from her seat, but then the girl with the mud-coloured that was all over him after the university club champions. She was sidling up to him and giggling at him, but Percy was smiling slightly too. Had he already replaced her? Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him and the girl – had he moved on so quickly? Was what they had nothing? _You didn’t_ have _anything with him, thanks to your own actions, idiot._ Annabeth pouted her lips, she had a point. But she couldn’t sit here now and she certainly wasn’t going over now either, so she gathered her things and left, feeling eyes watch her as she left in a harrumph.

 

Things were especially awkward for their friends. Every time she had been out with them over the past month, she could tell that they wanted to ask what was going on, but they were either too scared of her to ask or felt too awkward about it. Grover wasn’t letting up if Percy had mentioned anything to him about their ‘tiff’ and she had wanted to not get into it either, but when she went to play hacky sack just the two of them at lunch, the girl in the library over Percy and her not talking to Percy, let alone not even talking about him spilled over.  
Annabeth toyed with the hacky sack, trying her best to come across as nonchalant. “Is Percy still coming to the trip to the beach after exams?”   
“Yeah, it was yours and his idea after all,” Grover took a bite out of his falafel tortilla. “Why?”  
“Was just gonna ask if he’s bringing anyone. I saw him cosying up to that Rocky girl in the library today. Should think Jason needs a heads up if one more person is squeezing into the mini-van,” She tossed the hacky sack over to Grover.  
“I’m pretty sure her name is Rochelle and no he’s not bringing her. He doesn’t even like her,”  
“Oh really?” Annabeth tried to keep the fact that her heart sped up at that information clear from he voice. “Because they were getting all cosy in the library today, _giggling_ together and being very disruptive if you ask me. She doesn’t even really get his sense of humour-“  
“Annabeth, stop. Stop over-thinking Rochelle and focusing on her because that’s easier to try and confront than what’s actually going on with you. You’re getting paranoid about Rochelle because thinking about that is easier than confronting your own feelings. Remember when you were jealous of Rachel, thinking she had a thing with Percy? I know you’ve been hurt before and you like to push people away before they could do that to you but you’ve got to start facing things, man,” Grover didn’t take his eyes off of the hacky sack once as he spoke to her. “– I’m sick of you two moaning at me and going in a cycle of ignoring any feelings! You can’t at least not be friends – you’re Percy and Annabeth. And it’s especially awkward because I’m best friends with you both and hacky sack with just two people just isn’t as intense,” He drop-kicked the hacky sack at her, hitting her softly in the leg to seemingly punctuate his point. She would have rather he hit her hard with the hacky sack than his words. It was one thing to know those things herself, but to have someone blatantly point it out?   
She remembered in her past life Grover had had an empathy link with Percy, but she had forgotten how good he was at reading emotions in general. “That would have been more powerful if you had walked away after, huh,” She deflected.  
“Yeah, well, I’ve got falafel to finish,”  
Annabeth sniggered at him, but what he had said was still ringing in her. They were quiet as Grover strived to finish his falafel. “Are _you_ still coming to the beach, Annabeth, even if Percy isn’t bringing anyone, especially not Rochelle?”  
Annabeth tossed her head, fiddling with the hacky sack, fighting the rising blush she could feel at the insinuation in Grover’s voice. “Yeah,”  
Annabeth refused to make eye contact with Grover, but she could hear the smirk in his voice. “Good then. Jason won’t have to worry at all then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wahey

**Author's Note:**

> please don't forget to leave a comment or a kudos if you can, doesn't cost anything and helps me as the author thank you:)


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